With the fast growing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web (also known as “WWW” or the “Web”), a number of companies have been seeking to provide additional services over the Internet. As use of the Internet has increased, the price for access to the Internet has been significantly reduced. The inexpensive, flat-rate (or free) usage charges for the Internet have sparked interest in using the Internet for telephonic communication (“Internet telephony”). Such a system promises the ability to speak with anyone in the world connected to the Internet with no additional cost beyond the Internet access fee.
Current Internet communication systems are typically quite expensive. For example, a typical system employs a Windows 95™ operating system, a full duplex sound card, a microphone, a modem, at least 5 megabytes (MB) of disk storage space, 16 MB of random access memory, a Web browser and a central processing unit (CPU) capable of running the operating system and associated software. In addition to being expensive, such systems restrict the use of Internet communication to the desktop environment. Moreover, in order for a call to be completed, the receiver PC must be logged onto the Internet. Special protocols are used by such systems requiring protocol translating capability at each end of the call. These protocols are typically proprietary and must be purchased by both parties to the call.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an inexpensive and convenient apparatus and method for handling Internet audio communications which overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies in current systems.